A padlock than can be unlocked and locked from smartphone

There is a padlock called Noke which is quite unusual and a great gift idea for a person who wants to keep everything secured. This word “NOKE" has been derived by the company from two words NO + KEY which means there is no any requirement for a key to unlock this padlock manufactured by the company. This Noke padlock also doesn’t even require any combination code for its unlocking. Lets see how it works. There is actually a flashlight indicator (see above "E" in the picture) fixed on the front body portion of the padlock, above the company logo (NOKE), and the company logo is printed on the surface of the padlock. Locking this padlock is very easy. Just push the u-shaped handle (shackle) of the padlock into the hole of the padlock and it will automatically get locked and a red light will flash on the flashlight indicator. This red light indicates that the padlock has been locked.

But for unlocking, the company has provided with an app associated with this padlock. Most of the latest smartphones and tablets running on iOS, android and windows with bluetooth 4.0 are compatible with the app associated with this padlock. Just go to this page on company website to know exactly which devices are actually compatible.

There are two ways to unlock the padlock using the app. Suppose, you locked your shop or home door using this padlock, and went away so far that you are out of range of the bluetooth wireless connection between your smartphone and the padlock. No any stranger now will be able to unlock the padlock in your absence once your location is out of range of bluetooth wireless connection. Once you return back to your home or shop, and if your smartphone is now within the range of wireless connection, you will be able to unlock the padlock by simply tapping on the shackle only once (green light will flash). But this is only possible if you are using the 1-Step Unlock mode in the app. I mean to say 1-Step Unlock is enabled in the app. But you may say this is quite risky because even if you have moved far from the door padlock but still if you are in the bluetooth wireless range than someone at your back can still unlock the padlock by just single tapping on the shackle.

That is the reason there is another option in the app called 2-step unlock. You should enable the 2-step unlock and then no one will be able to unlock the padlock even if your location is within the wireless bluetooth range. But now the question is how you will unlock the padlock once you are in 2-step unlock mode in the app? This is actually quite simple to do. Once you are near to the door padlock, just shift from 2-step unlock to 1-step unlock in the app and than by just tapping only once you will be able to unlock the padlock. But even if you are in 2-step unlock mode just tap once on the shackle of the padlock and the app, instead of directly unlocking, will ask you if you really want to unlock and then you can simply tap on the unlock button within the app and the padlock will get unlocked.

But there may also be another problem when sometimes you misplace your phone (or the phone is stolen) and the phone is not in the bluetooth range to unlock the door padlock. For this kind of problem there is an option in the app to set a secret code which is a combination of long press and short press of the shackle into the hole of the padlock. Short press (of very short duration) of the shackle into the hole of the paddle will give a blue light in the flashlight indicator and long press, on the other hand, will give a white light. Suppose you have set the code as > first 1 long press > than 2 short presses > than 2 long presses again. Than once you press the shackle into the hole in the same order and in the same manner as in the code, it will unlock the padlock even without a bluetooth wireless connection. You should set this combination code very complex for better security. The blue light and white light in the flashlight indicator will tell you if your long press or short press was successful or not.

But there are some other interesting features too and if you also want to know how secure this product is than you can watch this video review which is really very useful and easy to understand. The person, in the later part of the video, adopted different methods to break through the security of this padlock but he was unsuccessful. If someone’s mom or dad is too much worried about security and often misplace keys or don’t remember combination code than this is a perfect gift idea. This product works through a battery which can last for 1 year. Also different profiles can be created in the app if you are using more than one Noke padlock in your home or office. If you are in UK than this product can also be bought online at firebox.com

But there is one more similar product which is even more interesting than NOKE. NOKE still needs code combination of long press and short press of shackle (to unlock without using bluetooth) as mentioned earlier which is again annoying. This another product is also a padlock but this get unlocked via your unique fingerprint registered through an app in your smartphone. This padlock also doesn’t require any key or combination code or even the presence of a smartphone. You can know more about this padlock here in another article on this site. See picture below.

There is also a unique padlock which can be used to gift someone as some text can be engraved on it as per your requirements. This text could be anything you want. This padlock is available for purchase on Amazon but you need to send a mail to the supplier (email of the supplier provided on Amazon) for your desired text to be engraved. But this is a padlock that is unlocked using a key which makes it different from other two padlocks mentioned above.

Related gift ideas

This card shaped plastic product will let you make a stand for any home based product and will also fix all broken things at home.This device will send reminder notification on your phone if you forget anything in your daily routine.This home security device can track any unusual activity happening at your home, from a remote place, using an app in your smartphone.

Written by: Rajesh Bihani

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